Merchant mill layout



1935. H. H. TALBOT El AL MERCHANT MILL LAYOUT Filed May'4, 1933 11V VENTORJ. a How/9R0 M 779; 807; B Y 61955776? 0.07s wwm,

, -IYESSES. I

UNITED STATES FFICE MERCHANT MILL LAYOUT Howard H. Talbot and Chester A. McDowell, Pittsburgh, Pa, assignors to United Engineering & Foundry Company, Pittsburgh, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application May 4, 1933, Serial No. 669,330

7 Claims. (01. 80-37) Our invention relates to rolling mills, and par= the speed of the roll stands of the same group, ticularly to a novel arrangement of rolling mill and also entirely independently of the speed at apparatus that is especially adapted for use in. which the roughing rolls are operated. merchant mills. These mills are of the type in The details of our invention will be described in which a large variety or shapes and sections of connection with the accompanying drawing in .5

rods and bars may be produced. which the single figure is a somewhat diagram The principal object of our invention is to promatic view in plan of 81 Idling mill Constructed vide an arrangement of roll stands for the various and arranged in accordance w th our inven ionsuccessive operations of rolling rods and bars that A merchant mill comprises in ral W0 l0 permits flexibility of operation and adaptation roughing mills consisting of I011 ds 1 and 2, of the speeds of the various roll stands in accordand 3 and 4, respectively, an intermediate mill ance with the speed with which material is decomprising r011 Stands 5, 6, 7 and. dand fin livered thereto. mill comprising roll stands 9, 10, ll. and 12.

A further object of our invention is to pro- The l Stands 1 d 2 0f the fi r u hin l5 vlde an arrangement that permits a fairly wide mill are driven from a Single driving motor 1 choice with respect to the sequence of operations through suitable m: r duc i n mechanism 15.

in the finishing rolls of th ill, The second roughing on; consisting of roll stands In the construction and operation of merchant 3 and is Dmvideli with Single driving tor mills prior to our invention substantially all of 16 which Operates through Suitable r u i n the roll stands are driven by a single source of mechanism to.

power, or the various 1-011 tand are arranged In the intermediate mill each. of the roll stands ingroups and each group is driven from a single 5, 7 n 8 is p v d d W h s individual drivsource or power. A seri s digadvantage i th ing motor 18 that is connected thereto by means operation of a mill of this character is the in- Of reduction r hanism 19- 7 2o ability to vary the speed oi certain or the roll In the finishing c111 ll tands 9 and m are it stands with respect to the others in order to make driven tive by ete s 23 and. 2 t ou h allowance for variations in speed with which mechaniSm-i 25 and p v y Each material is delivered thereto, or to vary the speed of the You Stands 11 and 12 is driven y mot r in accordance with the reduction in section or the so size of the latter. Furthermore, if the finishing In the operation of the 11 of our invention so rolls are all driven froma single source of power, billets are Supplied from suitable billet'smds 5 it is impossible to vary th ir l ti speeds to a furnace to from which the heated billets are accordance with desired operating conditions, or conveyed through pin h r 118 31 and a vertical in accordance ith the speed t which t shear 32 to a scale breaker 33 that is driven by a 35 rial is delivered thereto by the pldceg roll motor 34 t u h eduction sear mecha 3 so stand. The metal or stock then passes successively In case th 1], tand of 1 m mills have through the roll stands 1, 2, 3 and d of the continuheen in alisent and driven by a single source 0118 hin mill nd i nv y to the interof power, attempts have be modem use larger mediate mill for passage through the roll stands to rolls progressively through the finishing" in 6, l n 9 Where further reduction occurs. to order to provide increasing peripheral speed of Following each of the roll Stands end 8 is the rolls to approately compensate for e1onga= o 19 36 wh h P v f r y excess at rial 'tion of the metal stock. The disadvantages of between the adjacent p of intermedi this arrangement are that the axes of the rolls 5- The extent of this 1. y be controlled to of adjacent mills are out oi vertical alignment by v ying the speed of h m of the Succeed- 4s and the driving spindles therebetween are at an s r 11 Stand, i being appreciated; that incr ase angle thereto and there is no possibility of variain the Speed Of operation of the 11 Stand Wi tion in relative speeds of the roll stands in ac reduce the extent of the D Preceding i Al cordance with desired changes in operating conthe successive roll stands will be operated at prodltions. gressively higher speeds to compensate for the so In accordance with our invention we arrange elongation of the metal as it is reduced. that all of the roll stands other than those of When the stock emerges from the intermediate the usual roughing mill may be provided with roll stand 8, its shape and section are such that it individual driving motors whereby the speeds of may be supplied to the finishing mill to be passed each roll stand may be varied independently of through such of the rolls of the latter as are necessary to place the stock in final or desired size and section. The number of roll stands of the finishing mill that are required to complete the rolling operation depends upon the size and section of the finished product.

If, for example, it is desired that the finished product be of relatively small section, the stock from the roll stand 8 will be passed through the feet per minute.

roll stands 9, 10, l1 and 12 in sequence, as indicated in the drawing by the curved full line passing therethrough. By reason of the provision of ample space for looping the stock as it changes direction through the roll stands and by reason of the provision of individual driving motors for the finishing mill roll stands, the relatively small stock may be delivered at a comparatively high speed. For example, stock may be delivered from the finishing mill at a speed of approximately 3600 These results are obtained because it is possible to vary the speed of the individual driving motors to compensate for the elongation of the material as it is successively reduced in the several roll stands.

An alternative arrangement of the roll stands of the finishing mill is indicated in dotted lines. Such arrangement includes the transfer of roll stand 10 into endwise alignment with the roll stand 9, in which case it may be driven by the motor 23 for driving the roll stand 9. This arrangement includes also the transfer of roll stand 11 into endwise alignment with the roll stand 12, in which case the roll stand 12 will be driven by the driving motor 27 for driving the roll stand 12. A pass for the stock through this arrangement is indicated by dotted lines, the stock, after leaving the roll stand 8, passing through the roll stands 9,

10, 11 and 12 successively. ,When the stock traverses the latter path and is of intermediate section it may have a speed, for example, of 900 feet per minute.

When stock of relatively large section is pro-- duced it may not be possible to loop it in the manner described above in connection with sec tions of intermediate or small size, in which case the lengths will be passed through the mills separately and onto the floor plates of the mill or upon suitable conveyors, the trailing end being entered in the succeeding mill and the lengths rolled in reverse order. A speed of 500 feet per minute may be attained when lengths of stock are rolled inthis manner.

The roll stands 9 and 11 or the roll stands 10 and 12 of the finishing mill are adapted to be interchangeable with vertical edges. When the latter are substituted, for example for the respective roll stands 9 and 11 of the finishing train, it is not necessary to twist the stock between successive roll stands of the finishing mill in order to roll different sides of the stock and it is not necessary to station a man at alternate passes for the purpose of twisting the leading end of the stock in order that it may properly enter the succeeding mill.

When the finished product has emerged from the last roll stand of the finishing mill, it may be diverted to reels 38 to be coiled thereon. If the finished product'is of such nature that it is desired to retain it in the form of rods or bars, it may be conveyed through a rotary fiying shear 39 to a suitable hot bed 40 for cooling in the usual manner.

It will be noted that we have provided an arrangement or layout for a merchant that is extremely flexible in operation because of the ability to vary the speeds of the individual driving motors for the roll stands of the intermediate mill and the finishing mill. By this means the operation of the mill may be adapted to the character of the stock that is passing therethrough and with respect to the speed of the stock as it is delivered by the preceding mill in the series.

The arrangement of the roll stands of the finishing mill with their individual driving motors makes it possible to selectively vary the speeds of the respective roll stands and to select any desired combination of roll stands that may be necessary to reduce the stock to the shape and section that is desired for the finished product.

While the preferred operation of the mill has been described as comprising the bending of the material when the forward end thereof changes its direction and is fed into the succeeding roll stand, it will be appreciated that if desired the stock may be treated in desired lengths, the various lengths passing in a substantially straight line upon suitable conveyors and then passed in reverse order through the succeeding roll stand. Both of these methods of operation are in common use in rolling mills, and the adaptability of the mill for operation on material of this kind will be readily understood.

The foregoing and other advantages will be appreciated by those skilled in the art of constructing and operating rolling mill apparatus of the character of. our invention.

We claim:

1. A rolling mill, comprising a roughing mill having a train of roughing rolls, an intermediate mill comprising a plurality of roll stands in alignment with said roughing mill, a finishing mill comprising a plurality of roll stands that are out of alignment with the intermediate mill and are arranged in pairs in tandem relation, the pairs being out of alignment with each other and thereby permitting the passing of metal through selected roll stands of said finishing mill, and a plurality of driving motors for said finishing mill, the speed of which motors may be varied approximately in accordance with the speed of metal delivered to the roll stands driven there- 2. A rolling mill comprising a roughing mill having a train of roughing rolls, an intermediate mill comprising a plurality of roll stands in alignment with said roughing mill, a finishing mill comprising a plurality of roll stands that are out of alignment with the intermediate mill and certain of said roll stands of said finishing mill being in tandem relation and the tandem roll stands being out of alignment with the other roll stands and thereby permitting the passing of metal through selected roll stands of said finishing mill, and a separate driving motor for each roll stand of said finishing mill, the relative speeds of which may be varied approximately inversely with the cross-section of the metal passing therethrough.

3. 'A rolling mill comprising a roughing mill having a train of roughing rolls, an intermediate mill comprising a plurality of roll stands in alignment with the roughing mill and a finishing mill comprising a plurality of roll stands out of alignment with said intermediate mill, pairs of said roll stands of said finishing mill being in aligned tandem relation for continuous operation and the pairs of tandem roll stands having separate driving motors for adjusting the relative speeds thereof and being out of alignment with each other to provide for looping of stock between said pairs.

4. A rolling mill comprising a roughing mill having a train of roughing rolls, an intermediate mill comprising a plurality of roll stands in alignment with the roughing mill and a finishing mill comprising a plurality of roll stands out of alignment with said intermediate mill, said roll stands comprising a plurality of sets, each set comprising a horizontal roll stand and a vertical roll stand in tandem and the sets of roll stands being out of alignment with each other and provided with separate driving motors for providing relative driving speeds therefor.

5. A rolling mill comprising a roughing mill having a train of roughing rolls, an intermediate mill comprising a plurality of roll stands in alignment with the roughing mill and a finishing mill comprising a plurality of roll stands out of alignment with said intermediate mill and adapted to be disposed for operation by pairs in tandem relation laterally spaced from each other or in spaced axially disposed relation.

6. A rolling mill comprising a roughing mill having a train of roughing rolls, an intermediate mill comprising a plurality of roll stands in alignment with the roughing mill, a finishing mill comprising a plurality of roll stands out of alignment with said intermediate mill and adapted to be disposed for operation by pairs in tandem laterally spaced relation or in spaced axially disposed relation, individual driving means for the roll stands in said intermediate and finishing mills.

7. A rolling mill comprising a roughing mill having a train of roughing rolls, an intermediate mill comprising a plurality of roll stands in alignment with the roughing mill, a finishing mill comprising a plurality of roll stands out of alignment with said intermediate mill and adapted for operation in spaced pairs operative in tandem or axially aligned relation and provided with individual driving motors certain of which are rendered inactive when the finishing stands are 

